Fare

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT FARE - PAGE 2

DALLAS - Southwest Airlines Co. reduced its highest one-way ticket price 25 percent yesterday to $299, as the profitable discount carrier seeks to widen its advantage over larger U.S. rivals that are trimming service to stem losses. The cut from $399 applies even to tickets bought at the last minute and is aimed at attracting more business passengers, the airline said. Tickets bought just before travel often are purchased by business travelers and carry higher fares. Southwest said its highest fare applies to some seats on 36 percent of its routes and is paid by 1.3 percent of passengers.

By Robert Guy Matthews and Robert Guy Matthews,SUN STAFF | January 16, 1996

When the Mass Transit Administration announced its 10-cent bus fare increase, Ben Farr felt MTA officials digging far deeper into his pockets: He discovered that his daily trip from Waverly to Baltimore County would cost nearly twice as much.Yesterday, he joined 50 other demonstrators in front of Lexington Market to protest the increase from $1.25 to $1.35, service reduction and elimination of transit transfers.Protesters complained that the changes force low-income city riders -- 90 percent of the MTA passengers -- to subsidize suburban commuters that MTA is trying to attract.

HOW CAN THERE BE mass transit if the masses aren't taking the transit? That was the premise behind the rate and route restructuring plans announced by the Mass Transit Administration.To be sure, the agency has enjoyed a few high-profile successes in recent years: the inauguration of the light rail line that coincided with the opening of Oriole Park and the extension of the Metro system to Johns Hopkins Hospital that has added 3,000 new riders. But by and large, mass transit officials 'N recognize that they have enjoyed only modest increases in ridership while highway traffic counts and the duration of the workday rush hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor keep ballooning.

By Robert Guy Matthews and Robert Guy Matthews,SUN STAFF | January 15, 1996

Upset that the Mass Transit Administration will increase bus fares by 8 percent while reducing service, city riders are threatening to boycott, organize marches and file racial discrimination lawsuits in hopes of reversing the changes.At noon today, a grass-roots group plans to protest at the corner of Lexington and Eutaw streets -- an event that organizers say will launch a series of actions that they believe will force MTA officials to back down.Sharon Ceci, spokeswoman for the All People's Congress, which is spearheading today's protest, said the fare increase is unfair to low-income city riders.

Reacting to skyrocketing gas prices, the state Public Service Commission has approved a temporary rate increase for Baltimore city and county cab drivers effective Monday. The increase, 35 cents per fare in the city and 30 cents per fare in the county, will remain in effect for 90 days, said Dwight Kines, general manager of Yellow Cab and Checker Cab, who applauded the action. The five-member PSC board unanimously approved the increase last week. It is 5 cents higher in the city because, on average, Baltimore drivers pick up four fewer fares per day, Kines said.

Last year was the best ever at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, and yet it seems officials there are almost frantic.They're piecing together as many as five construction projects this year, including renovating a pier, adding baggage belts and finishing a new plane de-icing pad. They're expanding to accommodate one of BWI's largest customers. And they're shopping BWI's year-old international terminal around the globe in search of a new overseas carrier or two.It seems that record-setting years are the norm these days at Maryland's international airport.

From Crabtown to the Big Apple for $6.95.For about the price of lunch at a fast-food restaurant along the New Jersey Turnpike, travelers can board a Peter Pan Trailways bus at an East Baltimore depot for the 3 1/2 -hour trek to New York.The new discount fare, which a Peter Pan spokesman, Michael Paton, said is designed to introduce the bus company's service to the Baltimore area, is lower than the carrier had originally intended.In a press release faxed from its headquarters in Springfield, Mass.

By Robert L. Jackson and Robert L. Jackson,Los Angeles Times | December 22, 1992

WASHINGTON -- Capping a three-year investigation, the Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust suit yesterday charging eight of the nation's largest airlines with using a computer system to fix prices in the $40 billion domestic air passenger business.Two of the airlines, United and USAir, the largest carrier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, entered into a proposed consent decree to settle the charges, the department said, while the others indicated they would contest the suit.

The Corridor Transportation Corp. has begun a 30-day period for public comment on potential fare increases that will affect Connect-A-Ride Service and potential changes to its G and H routes. The G route connects Laurel and College Park; Columbia travelers can take the E from The Mall in Columbia to Laurel Mall to connect to the G. The H route connects Laurel to Greenbelt. The proposed fare increase and route changes are scheduled to take effect July 3. A public meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 1 in the first-floor conference room at Corridor Transportation Corp.

I'd like to travel from Venice, Italy, to Frankfurt, Germany, and then to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. How can I find a low-fare airline on the Internet? Two sites that have listings of low-fare airlines flying throughout Europe are Whichbudget.com and Attitude travel.com. Popular carriers include Ryanair, Flybe, easyJet and LTU - although they might not fly to your destinations. In fact, although we found a 50-euro fare on Ryanair from Venice to Frankfurt's Hahn Airport, we weren't able to locate a low-fare airline that flies from Frankfurt to Amsterdam.